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Pedestrians jog through the crosswalk at Mulberry Street and N. Washington Avenue in Scranton. The area has been the site of numerous pedestrians hit by vehicles. Michael J. Mullen / Staff Photographer

A pedestrian walks through the crosswalk at Mulberry Street and N. Washington Avenue in Scranton. The area has been the site of numerous pedestrians hit by vehicles. Michael J. Mullen / Staff Photographer

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A vehicle strikes a pedestrian somewhere in Scranton about once a week on average, a Sunday Times analysis found.

Pedestrians die or are injured seriously in about 9 percent of those crashes, the newspaper found in its analysis of crash data from January 2012 through October, the most recent available. Scranton police and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation provided the data.

Since 2012, when PennDOT embarked on a federally funded project to upgrade traffic and crosswalk signals at 50 intersections throughout the downtown and elsewhere in the city, there were 219 pedestrian crashes in which seven people died and a dozen others had major or life-threatening injuries, the newspaper found.

A quarter of the crashes, or 56, occurred in downtown Scranton. Of those, almost a third were reported at or near just three intersections: Mulberry Street and North Washington Avenue, Mulberry Street and Adams Avenue and Lackawanna and Wyoming avenues.

Not surprisingly, all three intersections are high-volume areas for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

High death rates

The seven deaths since 2012 equate to an average annual pedestrian fatality rate of 2.33 per 100,000 population. That is significantly higher than both the national rate — 1.5 deaths per 100,000 — and the state rate — 1.15 deaths per 100,000 — for 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recent statistics.

The city’s average rate is on par with Philadelphia, which had 2.32 deaths per 100,000 in 2013, and is actually higher than New York City, with 2.12 fatalities per 100,000.

Scranton Councilman Joe Wechsler, who has raised the issue of pedestrian safety at recent council meetings, said there are probably a number of factors in play, including what he sees as an uptick in the number of aggressive and distracted motorists.

It seems, he said, “that everybody is in a hurry all the time.”

The problem is not confined to the downtown, Mr. Wechsler said. He cited the Oct. 29 crash on Pittston Avenue in South Scranton that left a 14-year-old girl hospitalized and a school crossing guard with less serious injuries.

“We really have to take a look at these intersections where at points in the day there is major pedestrian traffic going through,” Mr. Wechsler said. “We just need a general upgrade on our approach to safety.”

While the newspaper found relatively large numbers of pedestrian crashes clustered along major city thoroughfares — most notably Mulberry Street, Lackawanna Avenue, Main Avenue and Pittston Avenue — the fatalities showed little discernible pattern.

Two happened three months apart on South Main Avenue in West Scranton, the first in December 2014, at West Elm Street and the second Feb. 4, a block away at West Locust Street. Two were in the downtown on Linden Street near North Washington in February 2013, and at Lackawanna and Wyoming on Oct. 4.

The others were scattered throughout the city: McDade Expressway in May 2012; Montage Mountain Road in August 2013; and Wyoming Avenue in December 2013.

The vast majority of pedestrian-vehicle encounters in the city result in minor or no injuries. The 219 crashes since 2012 include some in which the pedestrian came to police headquarters a day or two later to report having been “bumped” by a car, Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano said.

Among individual intersections in the city, there were six reported pedestrian crashes each at Mulberry and North Washington and at Mulberry and Adams, although none at either intersection resulted in a major injury or fatality.

Four pedestrian crashes happened at Lackawanna and Wyoming, including the Oct. 4 fatality and a crash in July 2014 that resulted in major injury, and two others were reported near the intersection. No other intersections in the city had more than three crashes.

If there is a common thread binding nearly every pedestrian crash in Scranton, city officials say it is this: As much as there are impatient, aggressive drivers, there are also impatient, inattentive pedestrians.

“There seems to be, in most cases, fault on the part of both the motorist and the pedestrian,” Police Chief Carl Graziano said. “To some degree, to some level, it’s a combination of both.

“In some cases, the driver is not paying attention to the crosswalk law. In other cases, it’s the pedestrian stepping off the curb into traffic when they think vehicles have to stop and that’s not the law.”

Adding to the mayhem, particularly in the downtown, are the new crosswalk signals.

More than two years after completion of the upgrade project, many pedestrians either still do not understand how the signals operate or opt to ignore them.

John Pocius, of LaBella Associates, the city engineer, said the sophisticated signals, installed at a cost of $5.6 million, work as designed and as intended.

“The technology is there,” he said, “but I think the people need an education.”

At the city’s request, PennDOT earlier this month adjusted the traffic signal at Lackawanna and Wyoming to increase the duration of the intersection’s red lights in an attempt to bolster the safety of pedestrians crossing Lackawanna Avenue.

Previously, when a pedestrian pushed the crosswalk button to activate the “walk” signal, the traffic lights on both Lackawanna and Wyoming would go red for three seconds. With the adjustment, the all-ways-red delay is now eight seconds, providing the pedestrian with more time to start crossing Lackawanna once the “walk” signal is given before any vehicles get a green light.

Chief Graziano, who spearheaded the change, said everyone agreed the three-second delay was not enough time given the width of the intersection.

However, Chief Graziano also stressed the eight-second delay only works if a pedestrian presses the crosswalk button to activate the “walk” signal.

That may be the city’s toughest challenge, not just at Lackawanna and Wyoming but throughout the downtown.

“The biggest thing is people do not utilize the push buttons to activate the crosswalks,” Mr. Pocius said.

Although some crosswalk signals in the downtown are automatic, Mr. Pocius said others require the pedestrian to press the crosswalk button in order to get a “walk” signal.

Most of the time, that doesn’t happen — perhaps because people don’t understand how the signals work, perhaps because the button in some cases is not immediately beside the crosswalk or perhaps because they can’t be bothered.

Mr. Pocius said even in cases when people press the button, they often get antsy and cross before getting the “walk” signal.

“They push the button and think it’s immediately going to turn, and it doesn’t,” he said. “You have to wait for it to cycle through. ... It’s in place if people would just use the signals and wait for them. It’s really the impatience of people.”

Crosswalk law ignored

Of the 16 people who crossed the intersection at Mulberry and Adams during a 10-minute span one recent weekday afternoon, only one pressed the button to activate the crosswalk button — and that person did not wait for the “walk” signal, eventually looking both ways and crossing during a lull in the traffic.

The rate was higher at Mulberry and North Washington, with five of 15 people pressing the button and waiting for the signal to cross.

Embassy Vinyl owner R.J. Harrington, whose shop at 352 Adams Ave. sits at the corner of Mulberry, said he uses the crosswalk button at the intersection every time he crosses. The red light on Adams is notoriously long, he said, and he knows motorists loathe getting stuck there.

“I’m never in that much of a hurry where I need to risk it, especially because people are always trying to beat the light,” he said. “The cars are always going along pretty good, and when they see the yellow they floor it. I don’t chance it.”

At the same time, many motorists apparently don’t know or simply disregard Pennsylvania’s crosswalk law.

While law explicitly states pedestrians must exercise care and not suddenly walk or run “into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute a hazard,” it also requires motorists to yield the right of way to a pedestrian within a marked crosswalk.

Maria Draper had a near-miss earlier this year when, after pushing the button and waiting for the “walk” signal at North Washington and Mulberry, she was almost clipped by a car turning left onto Mulberry from North Washington.

“If I didn’t see her and step back, she would have hit me,” said Ms. Draper, who owns Modish at 349 N. Washington. “I was so taken aback that some cars don’t follow the signs.”

Leslie Collins, executive director of Scranton Tomorrow, said her organization has approached PennDOT about partnering on an outreach initiative to educate the public about the importance of using the crosswalk signals in the downtown.

She admitted she, like many others, has been guilty of not pushing the button and waiting for the “walk” signal.

“We definitely need some education for some of these more hazardous crossing areas where we have very busy auto traffic as well as heavy pedestrian usage,” she said. “As in so many situations, the more you educate people the better the situation would be.”

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

Safety tips

For pedestrians

• Walk on a sidewalk or path when one is available. If unavailable, walk facing traffic on the left shoulder as far from vehicles as possible.

• Be predictable. Cross streets at designated crosswalks or intersections if possible; this is where drivers expect pedestrians. Follow “walk” / “don’t walk” signals if available.

• Keep alert. Don’t be distracted by phones or other electronic devices that take your eyes or ears off the road environment.

• Be cautious night and day and never assume a driver sees you. Try to make eye contact with drivers as they approach.

• If a crosswalk or intersection is unavailable, locate a well-lit area, wait for a gap in traffic that gives you enough time to cross and continue to watch for traffic as you cross.

For drivers

• Look out for pedestrians everywhere and at all times. Often pedestrians are not walking where they should.

• Slow down and be prepared to stop when turning or entering a crosswalk.

• Always stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Stop well back from the crosswalk to give other drivers the opportunity to see the crossing pedestrians.

• Never pass vehicles stopped at a crosswalk.

• Be especially vigilant in hard-to-see conditions, such as nighttime or bad weather.

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